Every experienced blogger has a business voice. A unique set of skills, experiences, and writing style they use to help their audience get the most out of their content. The challenge is that many of them do not know how to express their differences on the web. Instead, they aim to blend in, and not bring their excellence to their prospective clients.

That is a crying shame, because this is a vital component of writing content in today’s ultra-competitive landscape.

The problem is that most bloggers do not even know if they are going to keep on writing when they timidly write their first blog post. With all of the other demands, they are not ready to develop their voice.

Instead, they just want to appear intelligent to those who read their content. The problem is talking like everyone makes you sound like a whinny wannabe that no one wants to hang around anymore.

Therefore, we need to ask you the big question: “What is your voice?” What makes your writing so unique and identifiable that anyone reading an article you wrote could instantly identify it after reading.

Below are a few tips to help you find your voice, along with the presentation I did on Monday at Bernard Smalls Lunch and Learn about the topic.

3 Tips to Find your business voice

Who you talkin’ to- Most businesses have no clue who will read their content. As my good friend Donna Smith Bellinger states, “your business does not help anybody that… or anyone who…”

You need to know exactly who you are talking to beforehand. Have a clear picture in your mind of who you want to read your content, and what they will do afterwards.

For an example, I work best with entrepreneurs and small businesses. I would write for Fortune 500 companies, but I do not want my writing to be as dry as the Mojave desert.

I have trouble writing the type of buttoned up, cocky pop writing that most enterprise level writers create. That
writing might be grammar perfect, but it is dull enough to read before you go to sleep at night. Yawn!

My writing has a sense of humor to it. That is because entrepreneurs are not like the straight-laced business professionals you see zombie-ing around the business world. Most entrepreneurs are full of life.

My writing matches that zest for life in the words I choose. By the way, do you think the word zombie-ing around will catch on?

[bctt tweet=”entrepreneurs are not like the straight-laced business professionals you see zombie-ing around the business world. ” username=”andynathan”]

Three Adjectives- What three adjectives best describe your Brand? Not four or two, do not begin to write some paragraphs.

Simply describe your voice to us with three adjectives. Getting to the core of your business can be challenging. This exercise should guide you when you write. You can use these words as a guideline for whether the content matches your voice.

When I attempted the exercise recently, I came up with these three adjectives:

• Helpful
• Persuasive
• Engaging

When you put that into a sentence it becomes, “I help entrepreneurs create helpful, persuasive, and engaging content.”

What makes you different- A few months ago someone asked me a question that just plain stumped me! They asked how I was different from other bloggers and agencies? While I had asked that question to others, I somehow blanked when someone asked me the same question.

That was when I started writing the information below on my white board! The entire list of what makes me different as a blogger. As you can see from the information below, I have an amazing sense of humor.

While some of this was complete goofiness, the vast majority was helpful in displaying my advantages to prospective and current clients. Now, I can clearly tell customers what makes me different as a blogger.

Final Thoughts

Do not expect to go to sleep tonight, and wake up with an amazing business voice. It simply does not happen that way. However, if you consistently apply the ideas discussed above you can come up with a worthwhile answer.

When you know who you are talking to, use simple adjectives to demonstrate how you help them, and know what makes you difference in this regard your voice will become natural. Then you can develop a natural business voice.